Radioactive - Book 1: Birth 🪼

Thirty-Three

When I finally calm down enough to go back into the room, Dr. Heckler is putting gel on Nalak's stomach and moving it around a little. She uses the wand to look into his stomach and immediately the baby is pretty clearly shown.
"Looks like the baby is pretty healthy. Seems comfy in Daddy's tummy." She says with a smile as Nalak smiles as well. I walk over to the bed. "I can't tell the gender yet but I was pretty sure that we wouldn't at this time. I'll need to take an embryonic sample and do a test on it to make sure that the effects of the blood-albino and the treatment for it haven't affected the baby in any way."
"When will you get the results back?" I ask.
"I have an in-house lab, so it'll probably take about a day or so to get all the data required. Do I have permission to go through with this test, Nalak?" she asks, looking over at him.
"Um, yeah. I don't want anything to happen to the baby."
"Alright then. How are you on needles?"
"Why?" he asks with a curious expression.
Dr. Heckler gets up and walks over to the drawers that line the small wash station. She pulls out a small bag and walks back over to us, a humongous needle in her hand. It had to have been about five inches long!
"Because I will need to use this needle to penetrate the skin down into the sack and then I will have to use a tinier needle to extract DNA from the embryo. I wasn't sure how you were on needles."
"Even if someone wasn't scared of needles, anyone would be scared of that!" he yelled.
"True... Unfortunately it has to be done this way for minimal damage to the baby."
Nalak looks at me with a pleading look for us not to go through with it but we had to know if anything was wrong with it before we were in a position to not have any helpful people around. I can see Nalak realizes that I'm not going to let it slide and so he gulps and nods stiffly.
"Alright then. I'll put a numbing agent on your skin but you'll feel the pressure of the needle in your stomach. You can watch on the monitor if you want."
Nalak shakes his head 'no' and then grabs onto me. I put my arm on his shoulder as Dr. Heckler sets up the needle. Waverly walks back over with the numbing agent and Dr. Heckler tells her where to rub it on Nalak's belly. Dr. Heckler gets the large needle set up and touches Nalak's stomach a little bit and sets the edge of the needle on Nalak's skin. He turns into my stomach and holds onto me tightly. He grips tighter as Dr. Heckler inserts it in and I can tell he is feeling the descent of the needle into his womb. I watch the large needle come into view on the screen and stop just above the baby. Dr. Heckler then gets a long really skinny needle and puts it in the other needle. I look back at the sonogram and can see the skinny needle pop out of the larger needle's circumference and prick the baby. The baby jumps in surprise as a tiny amount of liquid fills the syringe.
The whole thing was only about ten minutes but I'm sure for Nalak it was a lifetime. When she is finished, Dr. Heckler wipes the blood off of Nalak's stomach and pulls his shirt back down.
"There. I'll get the results by tomorrow and I will run it by Waverly's house. When do you plan on leaving for the Badlands?"
"The day after tomorrow."
"Okay then. If I see anything before I come over, I will give you a call at Waverly's house."
"Sure thing."
"Remember, R, don't try to contact any of your family until you get to the Badlands. It's imperative that you do as I say."
"Who told you about me and gave you that message?"
Dr. Heckler smiles. "Someone in your family was given the message and got it passed on to me."
"But why you? Are they tracking us well enough that you were so conveniently informed?" I growl.
"No. They don't trust a lot of people, even in the Zanni community, but any of the ones that work out of the Arlecchino area were informed of this by the RDC but were asked by this person to keep it under wraps. She's pretty prominent, so going against her is usually not a good thing to do."
"She?"
"Don't worry about it, Ramey. I'll call about the results tomorrow."
The three of us left the building, with me being left with more and more questions!

*********************

We get back to Waverly's house and she announces that she will make lunch for us as Nalak and I go back to the examination room. I close the door and Nalak spins to me, arms crossed.
"Ramey, what the hell is going on?"
"What do you mean?" I ask in all innocence.
"Dr. Heckler was talking to you about something and you freaked out and left for a minute. I wasn't paying that much attention so I didn't hear what she said but I didn't like the way you acted. Is everything alright?"
I thought for a moment and realized that no... nothing was going to be alright. Nalak must have seen the look in my eyes and he put his arms down by his sides.
"I'm not trying to force you to talk to me..."
"It's not that... I just don't understand anymore."
"Don't understand what?"
"My dad told me specifically that I wasn't special to the RDC. I had this feeling that they were after me for some reason but Dad just said that it was normal since I was technically an Altered. Now Dr. Heckler just told me that I have enemies and they are searching for me. I wanted to call my dad but she said I shouldn't until I get to the Badlands with you... That too. Everyone keeps telling me that I should stay in the Badlands but I want to go home."
"Would it be so bad staying in the Badlands with me?" Nalak asks sheepishly.
"I thought I told you before that it has nothing to do with you."
"Yeah but it seems like the closer we get to the Badlands, the better it seems for you to stay in the Badlands. I mean, Dr. Heckler just said someone from the inside of the Arlecchino who is in contact with your dad by some means warned you not to call him. That means that someone's been working on the inside for a while. Plus, the fact that they were ready for all of this and happened to tell the one doctor who would probably take us in doesn't seem like coincidence. Ramey... Ramey, I don't think going back would be wise."
I clench my fists. Everyone wanted me to go to the Badlands, be away from my family, ostracized.
"I don't want to go to the Badlands. I will not live in the Badlands. I'm dropping you off and that's final. I don't want to hear about it anymore."
I leave and grab my coat from the coat rack. As I head to the door Waverly comes out of the kitchen.
"Uh, where do you think you're going?"
"For a walk."
"You can't do that."
"I'm so tired of people telling me what I can and can't do. I want to take a friggin walk!" I growl.
Waverly nods a little and breathes in. "If they catch you, I don't know how to help you."
"If who catch me?"
"Either the Zanni patrol or whoever is after you. I'm sure they know your face and have facial recognition on the cameras out there. If they can get a good look at your face, the RDC will be notified immediately of your whereabouts and all that does is show my whereabouts... Nalak's whereabouts."
"Then do you have a hoodie or a hat or something?"
Waverly goes to a closet and opens the door, rummaging through a box on the floor. She comes up with a fisherman's hat and hands it to me.
"Sorry, that's all I have."
"This will do. I won't be gone for long."
"I hope so..."
I put it on and leave the house.